Nokia 5310 XpressMusic review

The Nokia 5310 XpressMusic currently has an Informr score of 7.8 out of 10.
This score is based on our evaluation of 43
sources including reviews from users and the web's most trusted critics.

The "1-Minute" Review

The Nokia 5310 is a music-focused phone that gets it right. Often, music phones lack some key feature or are too challenging to use easily. But the Nokia 5310 is a good example of a good quality phone that “does music good”.

When you press the play button on the side of the phone, music starts playing. It’s just that simple. It’s refreshing. It’s easy.

And any music phone worth its salt would have a 3.5mm jack, which the 5310 has. Yay! And again, if you want a phone that plays music you’ll want lots of memory. Here again, the Nokia 5310 ships with a 1GB card. Nice touch.

The menus have been improved since the Nokia 5300 and getting to and playing your music is just plain easy.

But Nokia has not created a music phone at the expense of other features. You get a phone with good call quality, a 2-inch QVGA screen, good speakerphone, improved voice dialing over the 5300, and an impressive collection of messaging options, including AOL, Yahoo and ICQ, MSN, but not Gtalk or Jabber.

This phone is a great deal for young and old alike who want to merge their MP3 player and phone into one device. Easy to use and well made, music aficionados should check out the Nokia 5310.

What the Critics Are Saying...

A far cry from Nokia's clunky 5300 slider from just two years ago, this truly bite-size candy bar is 9 grams lighter than the W890i, about 0.25mm thinner and less wide by about 6.6mm (it's also advertised as .01 inches slimmer, but we couldn't tell). While we had no trouble stashing the 5310 in our...

- Steven Leckart , Wired

It may not be the slimmest or the lightest phone out there, but it does pack quite a lot of features, something which is rare to find in ultra-slim phones these days.

- Jin Khang Ong, MobileBurn

Summarizing our impressions of the Nokia 5310 we have to admit the phone is quite a pleasure to use. Plus, the good looks are a most welcome perk. Simplicity, affordability and friendly handling are good enough grounds for the mass appeal of Nokia 5310.However there is enough competition in the thin...

If your 5310 XpressMusic has problems and is still within its warranty period, you could contact Nokia support or the retailer you purchased the phone from. You'll find Nokia's contact information here. If your phone is off warranty and needs repair for a physical problem such as a broken screen or bad battery, you should visit an authorized service centre or a local phone repair shop. You can also connect with others in The Informr Community Forum to find and share answers to questions.

Critic Reviews

The music-driven phone for this kind of money

A far cry from Nokia's clunky 5300 slider from just two years ago, this truly bite-size candy bar is 9 grams lighter than the W890i, about 0.25mm thinner and less wide by about 6.6mm (it's also advertised as .01 inches slimmer, but we couldn't tell). While we had no trouble stashing the 5310 in our skinny pantaloons, USB file transfers required reconfiguring the settings before we were able to drag and drop tunes. Like the W890i, removing the battery cover revealed a MicroSD slot that can handle up to 4GB. Unlike the W890i, the 5310 comes with a glorious 3.5mm jack. Overall, if you want a music-driven phone — and don't care about expedient web browsing or quality snapshots, you're not likely to find a better handset for this kind of money...

A far cry from Nokia's clunky 5300 slider from just two years ago, this truly bite-size candy bar is 9 grams lighter than the W890i, about 0.25mm thinner and less wide by about 6.6mm (it's also advertised as .01 inches slimmer, but we couldn't tell). While we had no trouble stashing the 5310 in our skinny pantaloons, USB file transfers required reconfiguring the settings before we were able to drag and drop tunes. Like the W890i, removing the battery cover revealed a MicroSD slot that can handle up to 4GB. Unlike the W890i, the 5310 comes with a glorious 3.5mm jack. Overall, if you want a music-driven phone — and don't care about expedient web browsing or quality snapshots, you're not likely to find a better handset for this kind of money.

WIRED Excellent sound quality. Able to accept calls not only while USB-connected, but also *during* file transfers. Convenient external music controls. 3.5mm jack (can't stress this enough). Tween alert: sufficiently loud external speaker great (annoying) for public places.

A very pocketable phone that plays music well

The 5310 is an attractive, ultra-slim phone from Nokia. Although not particularly basic, neither is it hugely feature-rich when compared to other phones on the market. Instead, it excels at the task it was designed for - being a very pocketable phone that plays music well. The slim form factor certainly caught the attention of my friends, and I enjoyed using it for the entire two weeks that I tested it....

The 5310 is an attractive, ultra-slim phone from Nokia. Although not particularly basic, neither is it hugely feature-rich when compared to other phones on the market. Instead, it excels at the task it was designed for - being a very pocketable phone that plays music well. The slim form factor certainly caught the attention of my friends, and I enjoyed using it for the entire two weeks that I tested it.

The camera could have been better, but those who are looking for a superior camera need look no further than the 5310's elder brother, the 5610 - which is in a sliding form factor. The memory card slot offers expandability and the versatility of being able to switch between different music libraries stored upon different microSD cards. The best feature of the 5310, which isn't found on the 5610, is the 3.5mm audio jack. To me, that alone makes the 5310 a winner.

With good audio quality and battery life, it's really quite difficult to fault the 5310 and we highly recommended it if you're looking for a mid-ranged music phone which comes in such a slim candybar form factor. However, Sony Ericsson's W580i might be a good alternative as well, if you don't mind slider phones and fancy a nifty motion sensing interface to change tracks.

An amazingly thin and lightweight handset with serious sonic power

Summarizing our impressions of the Nokia 5310 we have to admit the phone is quite a pleasure to use. Plus, the good looks are a most welcome perk. Simplicity, affordability and friendly handling are good enough grounds for the mass appeal of Nokia 5310.

However there is enough competition in the thin music phone niche. As we see it, the strongest competitor will be the look-alike Sony Ericsson W880, and there is Sony Ericsson W890 just around the corner. And there's always Samsung and its latest Ultra lineup which has a nice music player and traditionally fare great in our music quality tests...

Summarizing our impressions of the Nokia 5310 we have to admit the phone is quite a pleasure to use. Plus, the good looks are a most welcome perk. Simplicity, affordability and friendly handling are good enough grounds for the mass appeal of Nokia 5310.

However there is enough competition in the thin music phone niche. As we see it, the strongest competitor will be the look-alike Sony Ericsson W880, and there is Sony Ericsson W890 just around the corner. And there's always Samsung and its latest Ultra lineup which has a nice music player and traditionally fare great in our music quality tests.

Other than that all we can say that the Nokia 5310 is well worth it and if you are not in a great need of a better camera it sounds like a great deal.

User Reviews

Crappy antenna and not great build quality

I loved this phone when I got it; it's relatively fast, makes for a great music player, has a standard headphone jack and best of all is super small so I don't even notice it in my pocket. However, after the 1-year warranty expired, the centre button chipped off. That was disappointing. And I hardly ev...More

I loved this phone when I got it; it's relatively fast, makes for a great music player, has a standard headphone jack and best of all is super small so I don't even notice it in my pocket. However, after the 1-year warranty expired, the centre button chipped off. That was disappointing. And I hardly ever get signal, even in downtown. If I step inside, the best I can hope for is one bar. It's a decent phone and I'm sad to part ways with it, but it's definitely not built to last.
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Great Phone All Around

It's sleek, it's easy to use, it practically indestructible.
I've had this phone for over 2 years and I've never had a problem with it. The music player sounds great and it can hold quite a bit of music. I've dropped it down a flight of stairs onto cement and it was fine. It's also very small and c...More

It's sleek, it's easy to use, it practically indestructible.
I've had this phone for over 2 years and I've never had a problem with it. The music player sounds great and it can hold quite a bit of music. I've dropped it down a flight of stairs onto cement and it was fine. It's also very small and can fit almost anywhere. It's definitely a good purchase.
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wort phone i've had

This phone looses it's antenna completely constantly... to fix this you have to turn phone off and back on a couple of times than the antenna starts working again. Also, the battery doesn't last long, I think the trick is to continue recharging it even when the phone indicates the battery is fully rec...More

This phone looses it's antenna completely constantly... to fix this you have to turn phone off and back on a couple of times than the antenna starts working again. Also, the battery doesn't last long, I think the trick is to continue recharging it even when the phone indicates the battery is fully recharged. Don't like the menus or the setup for the music either. Phoned Nokia about something in february.... got a call back in december !!!! I've had it 1 year and am switching over to Sony Vivaz Pro (and crossing my fingers) and never getting a Nokia again !
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Outdoor and Party Phone APPROVED!

For anyone looking for a phone that you can literally take anywhere and not have to worry about it dieing on you this is the phone for you. I have punted it fifty feet in the air, listened to the music on it while i snowboard, taken it to the beach, thrown it across the room, had it in my pocket durin...More

For anyone looking for a phone that you can literally take anywhere and not have to worry about it dieing on you this is the phone for you. I have punted it fifty feet in the air, listened to the music on it while i snowboard, taken it to the beach, thrown it across the room, had it in my pocket during a rain storm, dropped off my lap on to the side walk when getting out of my car more times than I can count, and my drunk buddy even tried to break it while in the bar and failed.
Not mention I have had it for two and half years and it hasn't started failing me until today when I had to crawl under fence to get my sunglasses in the pouring rain right through a puddle and forget in was in my pocket. Oh yeah also checking weather on the phone is free.
The pictures are pretty good quality plus you can get a 4gb card and put more than enough music and photos on this phone. It uses a regular audio jack hook up as well. The loud speaker is good for the beach and the phone calls can get picked up right through the radio like having a wifi on the iphone.
To prove a point to "Smart" phone users, I always reply my phone can do everything your's can do and more. Then I thrown my nokia at the floor and pick it up can call their phone. The iphone can't do that.
I love this and I will never buy anything besides Nokia's.
ALSO IT IS IMPORTANT TO BUY THE RUBBER CASE FOR THIS PHONE IS REALLY MAKES IT UNBREAKABLE.
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Great size and features

I have owned the Nokia 5310 for about 1 year. Very pleased. You can easily use this phone as an mp3 player, and that's my favorite thing about it, along with it's small size and durability. I have stopped using my iPod altogether after having this phone. The software comes in box with the phone, and th...More

I have owned the Nokia 5310 for about 1 year. Very pleased. You can easily use this phone as an mp3 player, and that's my favorite thing about it, along with it's small size and durability. I have stopped using my iPod altogether after having this phone. The software comes in box with the phone, and the cable to connect the phone to your computer. I highly recommend buying a "micro SD card" in addition so you have lots of memoory to store mp3 files without using the phone memory. You can transfer mp3 files from your computer to the phone very easily and fast.
It's great for texting because its easy to switch between languages. Makes texting Miami Spanglish easier.
Also when you install the PC Suite software (in the box with phone) into your computer you can arrange your texts from the phone to your computer, and organize by name (instead of date/time). If you go through a breakup, instead of having to delete your ex's texts one by one in the phone, Just plug in your phone to the computer, sort by name, and DELETE. Much easier.
The camera is so - so...it's too delayed when taking a picture.
However- my first Nokia 5310 seemed to have a malfunction. It would freeze and reboot itself like a bad computer- a lot. However, the phone was still within warranty so T Mobile replaced it with an identital one. I have had the replacement for a few months and it seems to be fine.
Overall- great size and great for music lovers. If you start to get a freeze and white screen- call while it's still within warranty and get a replacement.
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Excellent cell phone, great music

Mine came with a 1 GB card, so I bought a SanDisk 8GB microSDHC Card CLASS 2 (SDSDQ-8192, Bulk Package) pretty quickly so I could put all my songs on this phone.
I was very surprised with the quality of music. I never thought I'd listen to music from a cell phone, because usually cell phone speakers...More

Mine came with a 1 GB card, so I bought a SanDisk 8GB microSDHC Card CLASS 2 (SDSDQ-8192, Bulk Package) pretty quickly so I could put all my songs on this phone.
I was very surprised with the quality of music. I never thought I'd listen to music from a cell phone, because usually cell phone speakers have a really grainy quality. But, this phone gives out very high quality music.
It's the first phone that has a programmable dictionary. Also the predictive text is pretty cool. It will eventually remember the words you use most often, and bring them up first.
It stores a ton of texts in the internal memory. Right now I have 4105 messages in my inbox and 3074 messages in my outbox and that's only taking up about half of the internal memory.
The only complaint I have is that the alarm is unreliable if you press snooze, and I always do, so I need to come up with another alarm clock solution besides my cell phone. Oh, I guess since it is with T-mobile, I should also complain about how you can't get "t-zones" off the main screen, and it always asks me, "Are you sure you want to exit t-zones" whenever I accidentally go into it. Of course I want to exit t-zones, it's pretty useless unless I'm downloading a game.
The picture quality is great, too. I never thought I'd actually use a cell phone picture for anything but cell phones, but it can take pretty good pictures.
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As long as you never turn it off

I have gotten quite the experience with these music expresses and I think Nokia could do better. I like everything about my phone minus that dang T-zones button. However I believe I have a defective phone #2.
I purchased insurance for my phones because the express slider I had easily broke. Eventual...More

I have gotten quite the experience with these music expresses and I think Nokia could do better. I like everything about my phone minus that dang T-zones button. However I believe I have a defective phone #2.
I purchased insurance for my phones because the express slider I had easily broke. Eventually my insurance company suggested I go to this newer model. The phone looks and everything seems the same, minus the size. However I am on my second 5310 because its software went crazy. Actually this happened to my last slider version too, but that one was worse. I do not understand why it malfunctions but it does. If i turn my phone off, whenever I turn my phone back on it freezes if i try to do anything within like 5-10 minutes. This is super frustrating. Once it starts freezing you can only take the battery out and the image is still on the screen. This cycle normally continues until I get frustrated and dont touch the phone for a long while after turning it on.
Also since the phone has lots of memory I do not delete texts too often. When I do though, it freezes, and I go through the same battle as described above. I have a brother and friend with the same phone. Both have had to return and get a replacement for either battery or malfunction problems.
This makes me so sad because I love Nokia's interface and love Nokia phones, but I have just had too much software issue. Maybe I just ruin phones by looking at them, but seriously with all the technology today, our phones dont last? I am pretty sure my first nokia phones died before I had a problems with them.
So great phone when it works, but beware it might have some software issues that pop up. I advise getting Tmobile insurance. And Asurion their insurance company is awesome, but again hopefully you dont have to report so many phones in one year for malfunction like i have.
Hope this helps.
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Another perfect choice from Nokia

I have been true to Nokias ever since I started using mobiles and every time I get a new one I am pleasantly surprised. 5310 is no exception to this rule.
5310 offers everything I expect from a Nokia - sleek design (slim and fairly light), nice colours (nothing too flashy), sturdy materials and easy...More

I have been true to Nokias ever since I started using mobiles and every time I get a new one I am pleasantly surprised. 5310 is no exception to this rule.
5310 offers everything I expect from a Nokia - sleek design (slim and fairly light), nice colours (nothing too flashy), sturdy materials and easy to operate software.
The screen is just the right size to use the internet and the connection is just OK to suit my needs that is checking information such as weather, movies, rates of exchange etc. I wouldn't recommend it, however, for reading long newspaper articles, however, the letters are a little to small.
The musical part is well done (the mobile even comes with a pair of small loudspeakers which is a very nice idea in theory but nothing very practical in everyday use) and I can't help but appreciate the handy controls on the outside. This Nokia basically made my ipod a fashion accessory - why carry a mobile and an ipod if mobile offers most of ipod's functions?
There is also a camera - good enough to take pictures which will show on the screen to let you know who is calling and snapshots but their quality is only a little above acceptable so don't throw away your camera before you check it out thoroughly - and a radio, a nice addition (headphones, naturally included) although you should be prepared to recharge the battery quite often if you're addicted to listening all the time.
In short - if you're shopping for small, sleek, light mobile phone with all the basic functions plus some added musical ones, this is your perfect choice. It's hard to get anything better for the money.
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Another perfect choice from Nokia

I have been true to Nokias ever since I started using mobiles and every time I get a new one I am pleasantly surprised. 5310 is no exception to this rule.
5310 offers everything I expect from a Nokia - sleek design (slim and fairly light), nice colours (nothing too flashy), sturdy materials and easy...More

I have been true to Nokias ever since I started using mobiles and every time I get a new one I am pleasantly surprised. 5310 is no exception to this rule.
5310 offers everything I expect from a Nokia - sleek design (slim and fairly light), nice colours (nothing too flashy), sturdy materials and easy to operate software.
The screen is just the right size to use the internet and the connection is just OK to suit my needs that is checking information such as weather, movies, rates of exchange etc. I wouldn't recommend it, however, for reading long newspaper articles, however, the letters are a little to small.
The musical part is well done (the mobile even comes with a pair of small loudspeakers which is a very nice idea in theory but nothing very practical in everyday use) and I can't help but appreciate the handy controls on the outside. This Nokia basically made my ipod a fashion accessory - why carry a mobile and an ipod if mobile offers most of ipod's functions?
There is also a camera - good enough to take pictures which will show on the screen to let you know who is calling and snapshots but their quality is only a little above acceptable so don't throw away your camera before you check it out thoroughly - and a radio, a nice addition (headphones, naturally included) although you should be prepared to recharge the battery quite often if you're addicted to listening all the time.
In short - if you're shopping for small, sleek, light mobile phone with all the basic functions plus some added musical ones, this is your perfect choice. It's hard to get anything better for the money.
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